Feature Article

All Eyes on Haiti

Submitted by Administrator on Thu, 2010-09-02 00:45. Issues
By : Ariel Leibowitz, Library of Parliament, and Laura Banfield, McMaster University

On January 25, 2010, the headline of The Onion, an American satirical weekly, read “Massive Earthquake Reveals Entire Island Civilization Called ‘Haiti.’” Unfortunately, this is funny because it is almost true. Many people in North America had never given any consideration to the poorest nation in the western hemisphere until a 7.0 earthquake on January 12, 2010, made it impossible to ignore it any longer. Haiti’s government has reported more than 200,000 people were killed, a greater number injured, and around 1.5 million were left homeless. Homes, schools, and hospitals collapsed. Even the presidential palace and parliament were destroyed. Before the earthquake, the 2009 Human Development Report ranked Haiti, a small island nation with a population of approximately 10 million, 149th out of 182. Half a million children aged six to 12 were not in school, and 38% of the adult population was illiterate. Less than half the population had access to drinking water.